AZUSA, Calif. -- Coming off of an undefeated 11-0 season in PacWest play, Azusa Pacific men's soccer team has been picked to repeat as the PacWest champion for the 2019 season. Azusa Pacific also had six players that were voted onto the preseason All-PacWest team and swept all three of the major preseason awards as well.

Arturo Astorga was voted as the preseason Player of the Year, Isaac Bawa was voted as the preseason Defender of the Year and Brendan Fix was voted as the preseason Goalkeeper of the Year.

Astorga will be entering his senior season looking to lead the Cougars back to the NCAA postseason. Astorga played in all 20 games for the Cougars last season while scoring 11 goals and assisting on 10 goals and will look to be the leader on the offensive end this season. Astorga is coming off a season in which he earned All-West Region and All-PacWest first team honors as a junior.

Defender of the Year in the PacWest last season, Isaac Bawa will be entering his sophomore season and was voted to repeat the honor. As a true freshman, Isaac Bawa was also named to the All-West Region first team as well as being named Freshman of the Year and Defender of the Year in the PacWest last season. Bawa was an essential piece for the Cougars last season that saw them lead the conference with the lowest average of goals scored per game (1.2 GA/gm).

Azusa Pacific's starting goalkeeper, Brendan Fix was also tagged with preseason Goalkeeper of the Year in the PacWest. Fix started 16 games for the Cougars last season and had 29 saves which included three shutouts. Fix was 12-2 overall on the season in the net and was 8-0 in PacWest conference play.

The Cougars also had three other players receive All-PacWest recognition. 2018 PacWest Newcomer of the Year James Ndubueze was named to the preseason All-Pacwest team. Ndubueze scored 10 goals and had three assists last season en route to being named to the All-PacWest first team last year. Gregoire Diep and Bruno Pagani were each named to the preseason All-PacWest team as well. As a junior, Pagani scored once and assisted on three goals and was awarded All-PacWest second team honors in 2018. Diep was fourth on the team in goals with five and also assisted on two goals. Diep was named to the All-PacWest third team in his first season in brick and black in 2018 . 

The Cougars outshined expectations last season in conference play after being voted to finish fifth in the PacWest in the 2018 preseason poll. The Cougars instead went on to win the PacWest championship before taking their season all the way into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. 

Azusa Pacific will open the regular season on the road against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Thursday, September 5 at 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, September 7, the Cougars will have their home opener against Cal State San Marcos at 7:30 p.m.